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The Upper Valley Eye Bank to meet

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Man found staggering on street cited by police

<p>Plenty of familiar faces stood in this handshake line.</p><p>As the final game of the local college basketball regular season ended, Wilkes and King&#8217;s players came together after another battle &#8212; one that dates back to their high school days.</p><p>On this day, it was Pittston Area&#8217;s Steve Stravinski hitting a critical shot at the end to help lift Wilkes over King&#8217;s. The Monarchs, meanwhile, had standout performances from two Crestwood grads, brothers John and Chris Fazzini.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s awesome,&#8221; Stravinski said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve played against John and Chris for many years, and I told them after the game, it&#8217;s been very fun playing against them.&#8221;</p><p>This basketball season saw 16 Wyoming Valley Conference alumni staying home to play for Luzerne County&#8217;s three NCAA programs &#8212; King&#8217;s, Wilkes and Misericordia.</p><p>Across both men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s programs, 10 suited up for King&#8217;s while Wilkes and Misericordia had three apiece.</p><p>For J.P. Andrejko, coach of the King&#8217;s men&#8217;s team, there&#8217;s a personal connection. Andrejko starred at Bishop Hoban before becoming an All-American at The University of Scranton. He is also a member of the Plains Sports Hall of Fame.</p><p>&#8220;For me, it&#8217;s always a point (to recruit the WVC) because I&#8217;m a local guy myself,&#8221; Andrejko said. &#8220;And I always try to get some of the best local talent we can get. I always think our local guys bring a toughness that this valley breeds in all of us &#8212; a competitiveness that is kind of special.&#8221;</p><p>The Monarchs had five WVC alums on their roster this season, with the Fazzini brothers in the starting lineup the entire season. Coughlin&#8217;s Nate Oliver served as a 3-point specialist off the bench along with freshman Jake Barber (Hanover Area) and sophomore Mike Prociak (Holy Redeemer).</p><p>On the women&#8217;s side, the Lady Monarchs featured plenty of local talent. In a late-season game at Misericordia, coach Brian Donoghue started Olivia Hoffman (Wyoming Valley West), Cayle Spencer (Lake-Lehman), Alexis Steeber (Berwick) and Tara Zdancewicz (Wyoming Valley West). Dallas&#8217; Maggie Michael also came in off the bench.</p><p>&#8220;All from the Valley Conference,&#8221; Donoghue said. &#8220;They&#8217;re all going to have good careers or have had good careers. Tara&#8217;s really played her best basketball and Olivia, Alexis and Cayle are growing into it.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve always said that if there&#8217;s somebody (locally) we thought was a solid college player, that we wanted to be involved in their recruitment,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;We can&#8217;t get everybody but, at the same token, we want to be involved with everybody, or as many as possible.&#8221;</p><p>Hoffman, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, even set multiple school records this winter. Her 10 blocks against Wilkes in January broke a 17-year-old mark. She finished the year with 96 blocks, 10 more than anyone else in program history.</p><p>She wasn&#8217;t the only WVC grad turning heads by swatting away shots. At Misericordia, Tunkhannock alum James Hawk also came up with 10 blocks in a game to break a school record &#8212; one he set himself a year ago. The 6-foot-10 sophomore is already the program&#8217;s career leader in blocks after just two seasons.</p><p>&#8220;Ten blocks in a game? I mean, what else can you say?&#8221; said Cougars coach Willie Chandler, a Misericordia and Scranton High School grad. &#8220;He&#8217;s been playing great.&#8221;</p><p>While Hawk has been a fixture in the Cougars&#8217; starting lineup, Pittston Area&#8217;s Tyler McGarry gradually carved out a bigger role toward the end of his freshman season. McGarry was a big part of Misericordia&#8217;s impressive 3-point barrage in February.</p><p>Fellow Pittston Area freshman Liz Waleski was in a similar spot for the Misericordia women&#8217;s team, leading the Cougars from behind the arc, hitting nearly 40 percent of her 3-pointers.</p><p>Two of four former Patriots, along with Stravinski and Mason Gross at Wilkes, played for local NCAA colleges this past season.</p><p>A senior, Stravinski drew praise over four years from coach Izzi Metz and his predecessor at Wilkes, Jerry Rickrode.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to stop coaching him,&#8221; Metz said. &#8220;Steve&#8217;s been great since I&#8217;ve been here. He does so much that doesn&#8217;t show up on the stat sheet. He&#8217;s much more than just a shooter &#8212; he&#8217;s a rebounder, a good defender and a playmaker. And he&#8217;s shown that out there.&#8221;</p><p>On the women&#8217;s side, Lake-Lehman&#8217;s Emily Sutton joined the Lady Colonels midway through the season and quickly worked her way into the rotation.</p><p>Nearly all the former WVC players made an impact for their schools in 2015-16. And their coaches expect that to continue.</p><p>&#8220;I enjoy having them on our team,&#8221; Andrejko said. &#8220;We will continue to recruit the area and try to get the best players we can.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Crestwood&#8217;s John Fazzini (22) transferred from East Stroudsburg to King&#8217;s, where he has been a mainstay in the Monarchs&#8217; backcourt the last two years. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Miseri-KingsBasketballCenter_3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Crestwood&#8217;s John Fazzini (22) transferred from East Stroudsburg to King&#8217;s, where he has been a mainstay in the Monarchs&#8217; backcourt the last two years. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Miseri-KingsBasketballCenter_5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood&#8217;s Chris Fazzini finished his sophomore year at King&#8217;s by setting a new career-high in scoring against Wilkes. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Miseri-KingsBasketballCenter_5.jpg</photo1><caption1>Crestwood&#8217;s Chris Fazzini finished his sophomore year at King&#8217;s by setting a new career-high in scoring against Wilkes. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Hoffman2016220225154809.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">From Wyoming Valley West to King&#8217;s, Olivia Hoffman broke multiple school records for blocks as a sophomore. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Hoffman2016220225154809.jpg</photo2><caption2>From Wyoming Valley West to King&#8217;s, Olivia Hoffman broke multiple school records for blocks as a sophomore. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Zdancewicz2016220225225616.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Tara Zdancewicz (32) was a captain for the Lady Monarchs in her senior season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Zdancewicz2016220225225616.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Tara Zdancewicz (32) was a captain for the Lady Monarchs in her senior season. </caption3><photoCredit3>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Stravinski2016220225211691.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes senior Steve Stravinski is one of four Pittston Area grads who played for local NCAA teams in the 2015-16 season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Stravinski2016220225211691.jpg</photo4><caption4>Wilkes senior Steve Stravinski is one of four Pittston Area grads who played for local NCAA teams in the 2015-16 season. </caption4><photoCredit4>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Miseri-KingsBasketballCenter_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Tunkhannock grad James Hawk has been a force in two seasons at Misericordia, as the 6-foot-10 center has already broken the school&#8217;s career blocks record. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Miseri-KingsBasketballCenter_1.jpg</photo5><caption5>Tunkhannock grad James Hawk has been a force in two seasons at Misericordia, as the 6-foot-10 center has already broken the school&#8217;s career blocks record. </caption5><photoCredit5>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>LOCAL NCAA PLAYERS</strong></p><p><strong>King&#8217;s</strong></p><p>Jake Barber (Hanover Area)</p><p>Chris Fazzini (Crestwood)</p><p>John Fazzini (Crestwood)</p><p>Olivia Hoffman (Valley West)</p><p>Maggie Michael (Dallas)</p><p>Nate Oliver (Coughlin)</p><p>Mike Prociak (Holy Redeemer)</p><p>Cayle Spencer (Lake-Lehman)</p><p>Alexis Steeber (Berwick)</p><p>Tara Zdancewicz (Valley West)</p><p><strong>Misericordia</strong></p><p>James Hawk (Tunkhannock)</p><p>Tyler McGarry (Pittston Area)</p><p>Liz Waleski (Pittston Area)</p><p><strong>Wilkes</strong></p><p>Mason Gross (Pittston Area)</p><p>Steve Stravinski (Pittston Area)</p><p>Emily Sutton (Lake-Lehman)</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

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Wyoming Valley Conference basketball players shine on NEPA college courts